They are looking at how the NHS and social care can work together to improve and join up services to meet the changing needs of their communities as the population grows – and grows older.

One of the partnership’s priorities is to make more services available closer to home. As well as being better for patients, this should also reduce pressure on hospitals, allowing them to concentrate on improving the specialist care they provide, and help make better use of the resources available to the NHS.

Progress so far

In November 2016, the STP published its ambitions for improving health and care for people in Sussex and East Surrey.

It also established a clinical board made up of senior doctors, nurses, public health experts and other care professionals from all the partner organisations to oversee the development of health and care services under the plan.

The STP partners have agreed three priority areas in which they will work together to improve services:

Urgent and emergency care

Mental health

Cancer care

To do this, the organisations in the partnership are also co-ordinating their approach to workforce development, information technology and estate management.

Closing the gap in finances

All parts of the health and care system are seeing people’s need for services growing at a much faster rate than the resources available to provide them.

In Sussex and East Surrey, that means the gap between the money spent on providing services as they are now and the money available to do so will have risen to almost £900 million by 2021.

The STP has been set up to help all its members make the best use of their resources and find new ways of providing services that will reduce pressure on these.

Areas the partnership is focusing on to do so include

integrated and community-based health and social care,

a focus on supporting people to stay well,

more joined-up specialist services, and

more effective use of hospitals.

The STP’s members are also working together to ensure that every penny of the health and care budget is well spent – for example, by reducing reliance on expensive bank and agency staff, improving back-office functions, and limiting the cost of ineffective treatments and wasted medicines.

Involvement and accountability

The STP is a partnership and a way of working. It has no powers to make decisions on behalf of its individual member organisations. These powers continue to sit with each organisation’s board.

Partner organisations also remain responsible for involving their local communities, patients, the public, staff and clinicians in their plans and decision-making.

The plans that make up the STP do not currently include any proposals to change clinical services that will require formal consultation. There is still a lot of work ahead, however, and the partnership will be doing more to involve staff, patients, carers and others in planning and decision-making in the months ahead.

Programme Board

The Programme Board sets the direction and priorities of the STP. It is made up of the chief officers or accountable officers of the eight CCGs, the chief executives of the 12 NHS trusts and other providers, and the chief executives of the four local authorities involved.

Programme Board meeting agendas, papers and minutes are available to read or download below: